‘We are the earth, through the plants and animals that nourish us.’ This first line of the Declaration of Interdependance was written for the 1992 United Nations’ Earth Summit in Rio Janeiro. Five members of the David Suzuki Foundation, including Dr. Suzuki, explained why the earth can live without us, but we cannot possibly think of living without the earth.
Born on March 24th 1936, David Takayoshi Suziki is a third-generation Japanese-Canadian. He credits his father with inspiring his love of nature. Suzuki continued the tradition of camping and fishing with his own chlidren with the belief that ‘it reinforces a connection with the environment and nature that cannot be experienced in urban settings.’
In April 1942, Suzuki’s father was sent to a labour camp in Soloqua, a small town in British-Columbia. Two months later his mother and two sisters were sent to an intern camp in Slocan City, a ghost town several hundred of kilometres away from his father. Still angry about the way his family was treated during the war, it did not stop a young Suzuki to excel in his academic progress. While attending school in Slocan, he jumped from grade one to grade four over the space of one year.
Following the end of the second World War, Suzuki’s family was sent to Ontario by the government, where they lived in Islington, where his parent’s landed jobs in a dry-cleaning plant. The Suzuki’s new life was a difficult one. At one point the 11-year old and his mother were working 11 hours a day picking fruit.
In 1954 after considering several Canadian schools,Suzuki decided to enroll in Amherst College outside of Boston after they offered him a significant scholorship. ‘For the first time in my life, I had been immersed with students who challenged me to excel in reaching for new ideas.’ Suzuki started by attending medical school and after three years he enrolled in a genitics course and was amazed by the emerging field. ‘It was the first time in my life that I sat in a class completely enthralled, my mouth hanging open in astonishment at the beauty of the insights.’
Suzuki gratuated in 1958 with a B.A. in biology. In 1961 he got his Ph.D. in zoology. He’s academic career spaning almost 50 years, Suzuki has been a student, teaching assistant, research assistant, visiting professor, associate professor and professor.
In 1979, Suzuki became host of The Nature of Things, a long time running show on the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation), he became the most famous enviromentalist in North America, and maybe the world. ‘My environment awakening came after I read Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring.’ In the book the author warned about the dangers of pesticides damaging the fragile ecosystem.
Dr.David Suzuki is also the author of more than 30 books.His writings range from the evolution of mankind to the slow dying mother earth.Suzuki has been awarded many recognitions, including a UNESCO prize for science, a United Nations Enviroment Program medal and an induction as an Officer of the Order of Canada. The First Nations people have also honoured him with five native names and he has been formally adopted by two tribes.
In 1990, he founded the David Suzuki Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding innovative solutions to help conserve the natural world. Most recently the organization has advocated for Canada to back the implementation of the United Nations Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas reduction.
Now retired from teaching, Suzuki has dedicated himself to educate the public about the importance of the natural world. It is a role that makes him one of the world’s most effective ambassadors of science and our future.
What makes David Suzuki so popular with pretty much everyone? The best way to explain this is by letting the ‘gladiatorial geneticist’ as he his called, speak. ‘Most scientists tend to get caught up in fine details and try to qualify everything to be accurate. Too often the passion and excitement are drained away.’
